Another Decorating Project Done!

We have slowly been working on our house to get it decorated and I have finally completed another project. We decided to have a nautical theme in both bathroom and bedroom. Here are is a before, during and after picture of the cabinet that is in the bathroom. The next project that I am going to work on is taking pictures of the kids from the beach and either printing them in black and white or old fashioned looking and then hanging them in the bathroom. Even though it has been slow it has been a lot of fun watching our house go from the original brown walls to something with our taste and personalities.

MISSIONARIES AND MARSHMELLOWS

Every month we usually have the missionaries over for dinner and they usually give us a lesson. On one of their last visits Joshua and James had just gotten back from the Father / Son Camp out and Joshua was still super excited about Smores. Joshua insisted that we make Smores for dessert. We used our electric burners to toast the marshmellows so we all felt a little funny but it was a lot of fun and like Smores, usually are, really messy.

Father & Son Camp out

Joshua got to go on his first father son camp out this year. I can't remember where they went but it was at least a 2 hour drive. Joshua shared a tent with the Robb boys and they had a ton of fun. According to James and Joshua the boys caught a small scorpion and it also spend the night with them in the tent, safely in a small insect cage. The next morning Joshua spend most of his time sliding down a small hill that the kids found. I couldn't get much more out of Joshua but he was already ready to go on another camp out.

MY BABY TURNS 2!

For Aubrey's 2 birthday we finally decided that she was big enough to sit forward in her car seat. We thought that it would finally help her with her fear of driving in the car seat but she is still terrified every time the car starts to move.

On her birthday we had a little party. We are planning on having a family party later on this week so instead of having cake we had brownies and let her open up one of her presents. She loved the Pluto dog that she got! She has a fascination with dogs so when she saw it we could not get her to stop saying, "Doggie doggie doggie!"

James at Progressive Field Opening Day

Last weekend James got to go and participate in the Cleveland Indians Opening Day. He won a writing contest held for Progressive employees and was chosen. Out of the three jobs they had open he got to help hold up the American flag. And he even got to hold up Southern California. Then after the ceremonies got to enjoy the game. On top of it all the whole trip was paid for by Progressive and he even got paid as if he was working. Sign me up to get paid to go see a baseball game. He had a blast and even got to meet some of the executives. In the flag picture he is standing in front of the second to the bottom row of stars in black pants.

Dairy Farm Field Trip

The kids and I were invited to go on a field trip to a local dairy farm this past week. We got to see them milk some cows, take a hay ride, see how the cows were treated, and pet some calves. The kids had a lot of fun. Aubrey, as usual, was fearless and even tried to climb into the pen with the calves and walk right up to one that was being fed out of a bottle. Joshua said his favorite part was the hay ride and Eliza liked seeing all the cows.

Sorry everyone! I playing with my blog to figure out how to make a three column layout working. I want to try it on our new Panama Ward blog but thought I should figure it out here first. If anyone has done this or knows of some good layouts that fit three columns let me know.

I MADE A DIAPER CAKE!

Well I decided to try something new. I never heard of a diaper cake until a few years ago someone had it at a baby shower. It was professionally done but I thought hey I think I can try that. It has been a while but today I did it. The kids helped a bunch and they had a ton of fun. Joshua kept asking me why we could not eat this cake. It's not the best thing in the world and it is nothing compared to the professional one but it came out really cute. I promise it looked much better in real life then it does in this picture. I will probably do things a little different next time though. It was a lot of fun!

12 Week Pregnancy Update

I had my first ultrasound yesterday so I got to see my baby for the first time. The baby looks healthy with a nice strong heart beat. We also discovered that Joshua's dream of having 2 baby brothers will not come true this pregnancy. Since the beginning he has been telling everyone that there are two brothers in Mommy's tummy. The ultrasound showed that my due date of September 24 was about right. Morning sickness has been a little tougher this time around but I finally figured out how to manage it. As long as I eat a small meal every 2-3 hours I am okay. I can't believe that I'm already at 12 weeks. So far instead of gaining weight I have lost 1 pound off my pre-pregnancy weight. So much for gaining 2 to 5 pounds during my first trimester. I also learned that I have to eat more iron and omega 3 in my diet. I've always known I was border line anemic but I've never been very good at getting iron in my diet. Now I also need to get omega 3s in my diet. If anyone as got any good ideas let me know!

Girls Will Be Girls

Not long after posting my Boys will be Boys post I guess the girls wanted some attention too. One night after putting all the kids to bed and thinking that I was successful in getting them all to sleep I walked by the girls room to hear chit chatting. When I walked in I found them both on Eliza's bed just chatting away. Leave it to sisters to just talk away the night. I got a picture later after they feel asleep.

Another Aubrey Update

Our tiny Aubrey is finally putting on some weight. She saw the Endocrinologist again last week. She is getting bigger but is still under the growth cart. That means we will be seeing the Endocrinologist again in about 4 or 5 months. She continues to grow in other areas so we are not as worried as we used to be. She can now say a ton of words and even a few phrases. He favorite is "I want a Nana. (Banana)" and she says it for anything food related. She can also keep up really well with her big brother and sister and has even recently learned to climb up on the top bunk (without the ladder). We are also in the transition of switching her from her crib into a bed, now that she has figured out how to climb out of the crib.

At 21 months she weighs 19 lbs 5 oz and is 30 inches tall.

JOSHUA IS NOW 5!

Joshua's birthday was this month and we celebrated by having an ice cream party! We made homemade ice cream in a bag and had a ice cream shaped cupcake cake! Each kids made their own ice cream in individual bags. Very messy but a lot of fun! January 16, 2009

Here is the recipe for Ice Cream in a Bag!

What you'll need:

• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup milk or half & half
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 tablespoons rock salt
• 1 pint-size plastic food storage bag (e.g., Ziploc)
• 1 gallon-size plastic food storage bag
• Ice cubes

How to make it:

1. Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
2. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
3. Place the small bag inside the large one, and seal it again carefully.
4. Shake until the mixture is ice cream, which takes about 5 minutes.
5. Wipe off the top of the small bag, then open it carefully. Enjoy!

Tips:

A 1/2 cup milk will make about 1 scoop of ice cream, so double the recipe if you want more. But don't increase the proportions more that that -- a large amount might be too big for kids to pick-up because the ice itself is heavy.

ELIZA, THE SUNBEAM

Eliza started her first day in her new Sunbeam class today. She was so excited that she has been talking about her teacher, the meaning of CTR, Lance, and Averi all day long. Plus she was super excited about her new CTR ring. Before church she asked me to do her hair so I put it up in pig tails and even curled the back so it flipped out. I don't know who was more excited about her having long enough hair to curl me or her. It still is not quit long enough yet but we made it work. I can't believe that I now have 2 in primary. Joshua is now CTR 5. Jan 4, 2009

BOYS WILL BE BOYS

Joshua I guess felt he had to prove to us that he was a boy last Friday. I caught him and the girls jumping on the coffee table. I asked them to get off as I turned around to grab something. Then next thing I heard was a very loud thunk followed by Joshua just screaming. He had hit his head on the rocking chair and gashed his head open. James rushed him to the ER where it took James and two nurses to hold him still so that the doctor could give him 4 stitches. The gash was about 3/4 inch and very deep. He was fine and when he got home he was so excited to tell me about the cool slipper socks that the hospital gave him. To prove that he was back to normal he then started to run up and down the hall in his new socks at full speed. I guess boys will be boys!

What will he do next?

P.S. I will post about Christmas as soon as I get pictures from my Sister and Mom.
Friday, Dec 27, 2008

Just wanted to announce that my cousin, Lindsey,

had a beautiful baby girl over the weekend.
See more pictures here!


Congratulations Lindsey and David!!!
Sarah Jean Bunting

Happy 3rd Birthday Eliza!

Here are a few pictures from her life!

MY CALLING CURSE

So it seems that for some reason I can't keep a calling any longer than five months. The past 4 callings have been like that. For the past five months I have been working with the primary as the Primary Chorister. It was a lot of fun and our recent primary program went great. I was just starting to figure out what I was doing when James came home telling me that the Bishop wanted to meet with me. They asked me to serve as 2nd counselor in the Relief Society. Can you say scary? I have not even been to Relief Society in over a year let alone have any idea how to run one. I have been a roller coaster of emotions since. When they first called me I was so scared and nervous. Then when I received a blessing for my calling I was blessed that I would be able to juggle all my responsibilities of home and church, I felt calm and that I would be able to do this. The for the last couple of days I have been antsy and ready to get started. That was up until I went to my first presidency meeting and Shirley told me about all the things that I need to do. Now again I have that feeling like, "How in the world will I be able to do all of this?" I really look forward to this new calling even though I am completely unsure of what I am supposed to do or even if I can do it right. Concerning my Calling Curse I was told to get comfortable in this calling becuase my curse has been broken.

NEW TREES

For the longest time James and I have been talking about replacing the dead tree in our front yard. After a very hot summer we decided it was time to buy a tree so that it would shade the front of our house. Hopefully it would keep things a little cooler. At the same time we figured that if we were going to buy trees we might as well get fruit trees. So we bought two because we had two empty spots in our yard. We got an orange tree and grapefruit tree. James loves grapefruits! Here are our new trees in the front of our house.

I found this while watching online news articles on prop 8. I thought this was interesting and wanted to share. Here is the link to the statement put out by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints concerning the protest in Salt Lake City. Here is the link: LDS Statement.

Church Issues Statement on
Prop 8 Protest

It is disturbing that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is being singled out for speaking up

as part of its democratic right in a free election.

Members of the Church in California and millions of others from every faith, ethnicity and political affiliation who voted for Proposition 8 exercised the most sacrosanct and individual rights in the United States — that of free expression and voting.

While those who disagree with our position on Proposition 8 have the right to make their feelings known, it is wrong to target the Church and its sacred places of worship for being part of the democratic process.

Once again, we call on those involved in the debate over same-sex marriage to act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility towards each other. No one on either side of the question should be vilified, harassed or subject to erroneous information.

FUNNY SLEEPY STORIES
Joshua says some of the funnies things when he is tired. Here are two stories that prove this. He usually hates to take a nap but I don't know if it is harder to get him down for a nap or wake him up from a nap.

STORY 1

During nap time one day I asked Joshie what he was going to dream about.
"Cars!" he said.
"What color car?"
"White"
"A car like Daddy's or a race car?"
"A race car."
"Will you race people?"

"NO! I'M NOT BIG ENOUGH YET"

---------------------------

STORY 2

One day I had to get Joshie up early from his nap. When I finally got him awake he said, "I'm not not done yet!" He then rolled over and went back to sleep.